Officials ask judge to dismiss suit over police shooting

December 14, 2008

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Attorneys for two police agencies have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a woman injured when officers opened fire on a vehicle being used in her abduction. U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp, for a second time Friday, heard arguments over dismissing the complaint against officers of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department and the Lafayette Police Department. Andrea L. Browell's lawsuit, filed in 2006, seeks unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees. It alleges that police used excessive force, violating her constitutional rights. On Nov. 25, 2004, William L. Lile Jr., a drug addict whom Browell, now 55, had been in an abusive relationship with, broke into her home, fatally shot her 25-year-old son, Eric Gilley, and then abducted Browell. Lile forced Browell into her own car and sped from the garage, but police fired about 25 bullets at the vehicle, ultimately forcing Lile to crash. Browell suffered a serious head injury when a bullet fragment from a police officer's weapon lodged in her head. Attorneys for the county and city officers said the officers acted with the intent to save Browell's life. But Browell's attorney, Steve Pennell, argued county officers used excessive force and that the Lafayette officers were negligent because they knew Browell was in the car but didn't inform Tippecanoe County officers.